Aaron Copland - Three Moods (audio + sheet music)

Aaron Copland's Three Moods of 1920-1921 are spiritually indebted to Leo Ornstein's Three Moods of 1914, with its daring tone clusters. (Ornstein performed these, at Copland's invitation, at a 1930 Copland-Sessions Concert). This similarity is also betrayed in the individual movement titles, "Embittered," "Wistful," and "Jazzy," which vaguely correspond to Ornstein's "Anger," "Grief," and "Joy."

That said, the Three Moods are also highly personal statements. Copland biographer Howard Pollack notes that, "Taken as a whole, Copland's early music gives the impression of someone thoroughly absorbed by romantic yearning," adding that a number of his early pieces feature, as poetic mottos, quotations from romantic poems. The second piece "Wistful" opens with a musical phrase borrowed from the song "Melancholy" (1917, words by Jeffrey Frnol), a melody that accompanies the words "Alack and woe, that love is so akin to pain." The tone of "Embittered" is gruff and austere, while "Jazzy" is lighthearted and jocular.

Three Moods remained in manuscript form until 1981, when Copland halfheartedly published it at the urging of Leo Smit, to whom he dedicated the score.

(AllMusic)

Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.

Performance by: Ramon Salvatore (Cedille Records, 1996)
Original audio:    • Aaron Copland - Three moods (1921)  
Original sheet music: http://en.scorser.com/I/Sheet+music/3... (Boosey & Hawkes, 1981)